It's game day, and a critical one as the Patriots get set to take on a tough Pittsburgh Steelers team tonight at Heinz Field. After losing to the Browns last week, New England is looking to bounce back and prevent back-to-back losses against the Steelers - which will be important because looming next on the schedule will be the Indianapolis Colts, who will visit Foxboro next weekend.

Mike Reiss was up early this morning and has his "Quick-hit thoughts around the NFL & Pats", and points out that the Patriots don't lose two in a row very often. According to Reiss since 2003, the Patriots are 24-2 in games following a regular-season loss. They lost two in a row last season, against New Orleans and Miami.

Ian Rapoport of the Boston Herald reports that despite practicing this week, Fred Taylor once again will not play this weekthanks to his lingering toe injury. Taylor hasn't played since week 3 against Buffalo. The veteran runningback said on Friday he hadn't suffered any setbacks and wanted to be out there.

“Haven’t been any setbacks, been a productive week,” Taylor said Friday. “Do I think I could play? You’re talking about the Steelers, man. Pittsburgh. In a good sense. You got to want to play against that team. It’s not my call.”

Rapoport also reports that joining Taylor will be guard Stephen Neal, nose tackle Myron Pryor, and potentially safety Patrick Chung - who is expected to be a game time decision.

Rapoport also looks at the "Top Five Questions Facing the Patriots" for tonight's game, and wonders if BenJarvus Green-Ellis can have some success against a tough Steelers run defense that only allows an average of just 2.6 yards per carry.

The Buffalo News has an interesting article this morning looking at the Patriots defense, who they feel "isn't playing like a champion". After being "exposed" last week against Cleveland, they feel their performance over the next couple of weeks could be telling.

Monique Walker of the Boston Globe takes a look at how the changes in the kicking game may affect tonight's game, with Shayne Graham getting his first start tonight with his new team. Graham joined the Patriots earlier this week after Stephen Gostkowski went down for the season. It'll be a tough test for Graham in his first game. The winds swirl quite a bit at Heinz Field - so it's expected to be a difficult environment for kickers tonight.

“Mangini, having gone up against the offense every day (as defensive coordinator), has a pretty good feel for the things they do, so that was part of the problem, but Tom didn’t play real well,” Martinez said when reached by phone Thursday. “Mechanically, he wasn’t doing some of the things we had been working on (during the offseason). So he didn’t do his part. He was off.

“I’ve seen him so long, I know when he’s finely tuned. And I can tell you during that game, he needed an oil change.”